Overwatch: After the Recall
by darkrai-the-slayer
Summary: A former agent of Overwatch receives the Recall order from Winston, and he reenters a world of danger, mystery and adventure.
1. Prologue: The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch.**

Prologue: The Beginning

My name is Dayner Stuge. Call-sign Stryke. I am a Major in the British SAS, specializing in hostage rescue. But before all of that, I was an agent of Overwatch.

Overwatch. The international task force hastily assembled to end the first Omnic Crisis. Back in its early days, I was merely a private, just another grunt in the front lines of the Omnic Crisis. We heard of it through the pipeline, while bogged down under heavy fire from the Bastion units. I remember one of the corporals scoffing at this new international task force, laughing bitterly as he recounted how he watched one of the elite SAS units get mown down by a single Bastion unit. I remember how that corporal, who was also a field medic, break cover to try and get to a wounded soldier. He never got there.

My unit barely made it out of that battle. It was a bad beat, and we lost more than two-thirds of our attacking force. Our air support had been decimated, and we had left hundreds of wounded on the battlefield. Their fate was unknown to us. Not too long later, our unit was despatched to the German front, to assist the legendary Crusader unit in defending Stuttgart. My unit was a reserve, and we were assigned to Stuttgart's perimeter. Across the forest, we could see how the sky turned red, how dust and smoke filled the air. We could hear the relentless chatter of the Bastion units' guns, we could hear the screams of jet engines and the endless explosions. We could track the battle as it advanced towards the old town on the outskirts of the forest, into the castle.

Not long after the battle had breached the castle, all became eerily still. The blood-red mist still hung low over the battlefield, but there was not a sound. No gunfire, no heavy armoured footsteps, no pained screams of the wounded. Word then reached us that the German defending force and the Crusader unit had triumphed, but with heavy losses, including the Crusader unit's commander, Balderich von Adler.

I fought hard during the Crisis. I lost many of my fellow soldiers, most of whom I had grown close to over the course of the war. In our final push against an omnic-held fueling facility, we had gotten word that the omnics were holding some employees of the facility hostage, and against our commanding officer's orders, my unit commander decided that rescuing the hostages should be our top priority.

While the rest of the forces dilly-dallied about how they should approach the well-fortified facility, our captain led our unit and two other infantry units to flank around the back of the facility, to where the blueprints indicated there was a service hatch leading to the innards of the facility.

We spent two days belly-crawling across the open field. Though we were far out of range of the Bastion units set up on the balconies of the facility, our captain was taking no chances with the threat of omnic snipers. For one, being robots, they never missed.

After we had breached the service hatch, there had been a long and bloody battle inside the facility. Many good men fell, but for each soldier felled, they brought down three or four omnics with them. We had lost half of our team by the time we reached the hostages. By this time, word had gotten out that three of the attacking force's infantry units were inside the facility, and support started to arrive. High-altitude dive-bombers pummelled the facility, while artillery units targeted the balconies, forcing the Bastion units to retreat inside.

Under cover of the bombings and the artillery fire, a convoy of armoured vehicles arrived at the front gate. We had loaded the hostages and were getting ready to evac ourselves, when the omnics launched a counterattack. One of the armoured vehicles was hit with a rocket, and I lost my right arm shielding my friends from the blast. After that, everything was a blur. I remember the medic wrapping my cauterized stump of an arm in a bandage, then a sharp prick as he inserted a hypodermic needle, followed a soft pneumatic hiss as morphine pumped into my system. Then, nothing.

I woke up on a hospital bed, my right arm missing and surrounded by wounded soldiers. I spent a few weeks recovering, and then I was fitted with a mechanical prosthetic. During one of my rehabilitation sessions, a nurse came running into the room, tears of joy running down her face. She turned on the television, and the news headline was hard to miss. The Omnic Crisis was over. Overwatch had accomplished what everyone had thought impossible.

A few weeks after being discharged, I returned to my army camp. My commanding officer called me into his office to congratulate me on winning the Medal of Honor, and also notified me of my transferral to Overwatch Hostage Rescue and Extraction division, effective immediately.

And thus my story began. Sit back, and let this old soldier tell you a tale of wonder.

 **A/N hey guys, sorry for not updating in quite a while, exams have just ended for me and it has been hella hectic. Sorry for not updating the PJO story, but having played Overwatch since launch, I had been toying with the idea of an OW fic for quite a while. As always, critical comments and plot advice is always welcome, and I hope you will enjoy this story.**

 **have fun reading this one, and stay tuned for more updates on this story and my others**

 **Peace out,**

 **Darkrai**


	2. Chapter 1: A Hostage Situation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch**

Chapter 1: A Hostage Situation

 _-Flashback—_

 _I stepped off the boat. I had thought I was supposed to report to Overwatch's headquarters in Switzerland, but instead I was sent to Gibraltar, a rocky island in the middle of the ocean. When I arrived, I stood at the busy dock, surrounded by man and omnic alike, all busy offloading equipment and carrying big crates around. I was lost._

 _At this moment, a tall young man with blond hair noticed me. He handed off the clipboard in his hand to another operative next to him. He walked over to me, and the first thing I noticed was that he had an air of confidence about him, like no one I'd ever met. He also had a certain solemnness about him. It was something I saw everytime I looked in the mirror, when I looked at whoever had come out of the war with me, scathed or unscathed._

 _The man extended his hand. "I'm Jack Morrison, commanding officer of Overwatch. I presume you're Mr Stuge?"_

 _I took his hand. "Call me Dayner." Morrison had a strong grip._

 _He slapped me on the back. He was buff too. "Come on, I'll give you a tour."_

 _-Flashback—_

I was woken from my reverie by the sound of gunfire. I turned and watched as my men assaulted the brown building. Simulated ammunition, or simunition, peppered the weathered walls. A timer slowly ticked up on the table in front of me. Next to me, watching as my SAS troops stormed the building, was Colonel Ali of Helix Security. His elite team of Helix Security troopers were below us, under our observation tower.

Me and my Hostage Rescue Team were in Egypt for a training exercise, done in collaboration with Helix Security. My boys were now preparing to breach the building. They were equipped with mechanical exosuits which boosted their physical strength and speed. Squad A were preparing to break through on ground level, while Squad B had used their climbing gear and were preparing to breach from the roof.

In just 4 minutes and 39 seconds, my boys had secured the 'hostage' and exfoliated from the building. Colonel Ali was not impressed, claiming his Helix Security team, led by Captain Fareeha Amari, could halve that time in their armoured flying suits.

Amari. Now that was a name I had not heard in a long time. Captain Fareeha bore the Eye of Horus tattoo under her eye, just like her mother Ana had. Ana had been one of the greatest snipers I had ever had to pleasure to work with. She never missed.

After the Helix team had managed to secure the 'hostage' in a pitiful 5 minutes and 13 seconds, we dismissed the troops for lunch. Captain Fareeha followed Colonel Ali and I to the commander's mess hall, with my second in command, Lieutenant James Martin tagging along as well. We hadn't had the opportunity to speak earlier, during the formal introduction, but Captain Fareeha was eager to hear everything I had to say about my time in Overwatch.

We sat down with our trays, the Captain sitting opposite me. Up close, with her Eye of Horus tattoo, she was every bit as intimidating as her mother was. But where her mother was a wizard with a sniper rifle, Captain Fareeha preferred to do things the explosive way.

Fareeha spoke first. "So, how did you meet my mother?"

I sat back, slowly chewing my mashed potato. Swallowing, I said to her. "It was a long time ago, when I had first joined Overwatch."

 _-Flashback—_

 _Morrison led me inside the main building on the base, carved into a large cave. At the entrance, an older lady, similarly dressed in the lightly armoured battle suits of Overwatch, was arguing with a younger agent, who for some reason was in some kind of cowboy getup. I noticed he had a mechanical prosthetic in place of his left arm. A large revolver was slung low in a hip holster by his side._

 _As we got closer, I could hear the older woman saying, "Now now Jesse, just because you can take out a room full of hostiles with your revolver doesn't mean you can hit anything at range."_

 _The cowboy snorted. "Come off it Ana, you must be getting senile in your old age."_

 _Ana smacked him lightly on the shoulder, chuckling. She noticed me and Morrison approaching, and turned to greet us._

 _"_ _Jack! I was wondering where you'd gotten off to!" she smiled. "And this must be our newest recruit! My name is Amari, Ana Amari. It's a pleasure to meet you."_

 _I shook her gloved hand. The cowboy extended his hand next. "The name's McCree, but just call me Jesse," he drawled._

 _I introduced myself, and then Morrison left me to the two of them, saying something about checking on the computer hardware._

 _As they showed me around, I couldn't help but notice that the view through the large glass pane installed into the cliff face. The sea glittered with the dying sun's light. Jesse stopped next to me as I gawked._

 _He smirked at me. "You sure don't get a view like this back out in the West, I'll tell ya that."_

 _-Flashback—_

"And that was how I met your mother." I said. Colonel Ali and Lieutenant Martin were also listening intently. I further regaled them with stories of my hostage rescue missions, and how Ana had provided the crucial sniper fire to help us accomplish our missions.

As we returned our trays and were making our way back to the training compound, Fareeha was unusually subdued. Eventually, she tugged on my sleeve gently.

"Major Stuge? Did you know how my mother died?"

The question stopped me in my tracks. Colonel Ali and Lieutenant Martin, who were up ahead, turned and looked at me. My anguish must have shown, as Martin, bless his soul, was immediately by my side. "Sir, are you alright?"

I waved him off. "Tell the boys they get an extra half an hour of break time. I've got one more story to tell." The young man nodded vigorously and rushed off. Colonel Ali led us to a more secluded spot behind a large hangar, and pulled some chairs out of the building.

Sitting down, I looked Fareeha in the eye. "Commander Morrison and your mother were leading a team to rescue some hostages from Talon. I was in the dropship with a backup team, coordinating via radio comms. A Talon sniper started picking our agents off, and your mother stayed behind to buy the rest of the squad time to make it to the dropship. She turned her comms off, but we had satellite imaging on her position. The Talon sniper shot her through her scope. I'm sorry."

At this point, Fareeha had bowed her head. I didn't hear her start to cry, but a solitary tear dripped onto the ground. Colonel Ali had taken off his beret and held it to his chest.

I reached out and gently gripped her shoulder with my left arm. "Your mother was the bravest agent I had ever met, and one of the finest soldiers I have ever known. She saved many lives that day. She raised a fine young woman, and I can tell you, having personally known her, that she would be so very proud of you."

Fareeha looked up. Tears still glistened in her eyes. "Thank you Major Stuge. The people who showed up at my door, the people who gave me her posthumous medal never told me how she died. This has given me much closure."

I nodded. "It was my honour to have served alongside such a remarkable warrior."

Suddenly, Colonel Ali's radio beeped. He answered, speaking in rapid Egyptian. I didn't understand a word of what he said, but Fareeha stiffened. Colonel Ali shut off his radio, his face deathly pale. "Major, I'm afraid we have a situation."

-10 minutes later—

My SAS boys gathered in the Helix Security main compound. Fareeha had her men present too. Colonel Ali led in a flustered-looking young man.

The panicked fellow, a sergeant it looked like, tried to calm himself before briefing us. "We have received reports that Talon has assaulted a bioweapons facility and are holding the employees hostage. They are demanding free passage out of the facility to the nearest airstrip."

I turned to the Colonel. "How far is this airstrip they speak of?"

Colonel Ali consulted a holomap, before replying, "Just over 5 klicks, Major."

My mental gears turned. We knew Talon had possession of VTOL aircraft, so if they needed an airstrip they must have been planning for a large aircraft, presumably to transport whatever bioweapons they had stolen.

"Colonel, how fast can you get a mobile triple-A battery onsite?"

He grinned. "I like how you think, Major." He picked up a handset and started issuing commands.

I turned to my boys. "Well fellas, its our time to shine."

Fareeha coughed discreetly. I turned. She raised her eyebrow at me. "Don't forget about us."

I nodded. The Colonel had finished making his calls. I asked him, "When do we move out?"

"I can have a bird prepped on runway 4 in 15 minutes," was his reply.

I turned to face my SAS troops and the Helix Security troops. "Suit up."

-15 minutes later—

The cramped personnel transport screamed over the Egyptian desert, tearing the air apart with its twin plasma drives.

On one side of the transport, me and my boys were sitting with our mechanical exoskeletons, while on the other side was Captain Fareeha and her team of Helix troopers in their bulky armoured suits.

The transport dropped us outside the facility, where the Egyptian Army had set up a defensive perimeter. The commanding officer, a short and stocky man came up to us, his brown uniform whipped about by the undercurrent from the transport's VTOL turbines.

We could barely hear him shouting over the din, but his message was clear. The hostage situation was escalating, and rescuing the hostages was a top priority, followed by the securing of the facility's bioweapons.

We entered the command tent. The commander showed us a blueprint of the facility, the location of the hostages marked out with a big red X. Smaller red dots indicated the positions of Talon operatives.

Fareeha spoke up. "What kind of bioweapons are we dealing with?"

The commander shook his head. "I don't have clearance to know that."

The Captain rolled her eyes. "Of course."

She turned to me. "Our armoured suits are capable of dealing with minor biohazards. Can you secure the hostages?"

I shrugged. "My men are trained to rescue hostages, not secure biohazards."

She nodded. "Lets move."

-5 minutes later—

I led my team round the back of the facility. As with most hostage situations in industrial facilities, the service and maintenance access points were unguarded. Our exoskeletons provided a limited stealth function, so Fareeha and her team were hanging back until our tech guy could shut down the cameras.

Pulse rifles at the ready, we entered the facility, disengaging our stealth mechanisms. There were no security cameras here, because the area was staffed mainly by omnic workers.

We located the data terminal, and with our guys watching the doors, our tech guy, Corporal Kevin Lumey, started typing rapidly on the holographic keyboard. After a few minutes, he gave me the thumbs up. I directed Lumey and another trooper to stay behind and make sure the access point was clear, while I gave Captain Amari the go-ahead, and led my team up and out of the maintenance building.

Using the large storage tanks as cover, we moved quietly through the shadows, trying not to be unnerved by the many biohazard signs.

Fareeha's voice sounded in my headset. "We're in. Moving to secure bioweapons."

I acknowledged and signalled my men to continue moving.

After a few more moments of creeping through the shadows, we reached the building where the hostages were held.

My radio sounded again. "Helix 1 to Grizzly 1, we have eyes on the bioweapons, repeat, we have visual on the bioweapons."

I touched my hand to the earpiece. "Grizzly 1 to Helix 1, wait for my go. Do not engage tangos until hostages are secure."

I signalled my team to move. Two troopers moved off to secure an escape vehicle, while two others fell back to launch a small drone equipped with a silenced gun. The device rose into the air quietly, pivoted in mid-air and flew off. A few seconds later, we heard the soft thud of the silenced gun discharging, and the two Talon operatives keeping watch on the roof collapsed.

After taking out the lookout stationed in an observation tower nearby, the drone operator gave me the thumbs up.

We split, one team scaling the wall of the building, while we entered through the front door.

Thud. One dead Talon operative. We were moving up the stairs before the plasma wound had stopped smoking. We reached the door of the room where the hostages were held, and prepared to breach.

"Grizzly 5 to Grizzly 1, we are in position to breach."

I touched my earpiece again. "On your mark."

"Breaching…now!" the sound of muffled explosions sounded, followed by panicked shouting.

My team waited for a count of 5, before activating the breach charge, blowing the door clean off its hinges. My boys went to work, silenced pulse rifles making short work of the Talon operatives.

In less than a minute, it was all over, and the floor was littered with dead Talon operatives. While my boys started cutting the hostages loose, I activated my comms again. "Grizzly 1 to Grizzly 8, have you secured exfil vehicle?"

The reply came back affirmative. "We'll be waiting outside, boss."

I switched channels. "Grizzly 1 to Helix 1, you are a go for Phase 2, repeat, hostages are secure, you are a go for Phase 2."

Without waiting for her reply, I signalled to my boys, and we ushered the hostages down. As we opened the door, a loud explosion sounded, and we watched as the Helix Security troopers took to the skies in their Raptora suits, raining down death from above.

Our view of the battle was cut off when an armoured truck skidded to a halt in front of us, with one of my boys in the cabin and another one manning the turret on the top.

We loaded the hostages into the truck, making sure they were secure, when our second exit vehicle showed up. A large Humvee-like vehicle, and we piled in, one of the boys climbing up to man the large turret.

Our assault had not gone noticed. As we raced for the exit, we came under fire from all the Talon operatives, furious at losing their hostages. Our Humvee was getting pummelled with all sorts of small-arms fire and large calibre rounds as well. But it held strong, as did the armoured truck. My boys returned fire, the heavy machine guns chugging with old-fashioned armour-piercing rounds.

After a hard left, the exit gate was in sight. Suddenly, one of my men shouted, "Incoming!"

I turned to look behind, and to my horror, a Talon operative was lining up a rocket launcher at our vehicle. He pulled the trigger, and the rocket shot forwards, flying towards our Humvee with a spiralling trail of smoke.

I turned forward to make sure the armoured truck was going to make it out, and then that was when I saw it. On a distant rocky outcrop, the glint of a sniper scope.

I barely had time to process what I was seeing when there was a brief muzzle flash, and suddenly the rocket chasing us exploded prematurely, rocking our vehicle and showering it with dirt. A second muzzle flash, and the Talon operative jerked backwards, then collapsed.

Our vehicles cleared the compound, and sped on, stopping only at the Egyptian perimeter. Captain Amari's team had secured the bioweapons, and now the Egyptian military was moving in to clean up.

As we disembarked, I grabbed Corporal Lumey. "Get me a rangefinder reading from the top of that rock."

He pointed a small laser device, and in a few seconds had the numbers in. "Thirteen hundred metres sir."

I told him to take another reading, this time from the exit gate of the compound. It came back at just over 600 metres. I did the math. Our mysterious savior had shot a rocket out of the air from close to 2 kilometres away, and in doing so had saved us all.

The rest of my team were shaken by the close encounter with the rocket. By this time, Captain Fareeha had returned with her team.

Only Lieutenant Martin had the sense to ask me, "Sir, that sniper that shot the rocket out of the air, do you know of anyone who could've pulled that shot off?"

I racked my memory banks, but then one name came up and stuck. But it couldn't be, that person was dead, and had been dead for close to a decade.

I turned to face the rocky outcrop.

"Ana…"

 **A/N hey guys, this took a bit longer than expected, not because its pretty long (I finished writing it on the plane to London), but because it took me about a week and a half to fix my internet problems with the hotel wifis, and right now im uploading this from a boat somewhere in Norway using a shitty portable router. the next chapter will be coming soon, after which I will focus a bit more on my other stories.**

 **as always, I appreciate any critical reviews and plot ideas, and any constructive criticism is always welcome.**

 **well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and so stay tuned for more!**

 **Happy reading, and peace out.**

 **Darkrai**


	3. Chapter 2: The Recall

**Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch**

 **Chapter 2: The Recall**

Vapour rose gently from the cup of hot tea before me, spiralling into the sky. It was autumn, and the British air was cold and crisp. My mechanical arm creaked slightly as I shifted it. Across the open plaza, men rushed about, some putting up large banners, others pulling protective barriers into place. Armed men walked about, some entering nearby buildings. I could see some of them on the roofs of other buildings nearby. Security was tight, as to be expected. Even though the Omnic Crisis had ended so long ago, many British people were still prejudiced against omnics, and Mondatta had received his fair share of death threats.

I sighed as I sipped my cup of tea. The British claimed to be progressive, but sometimes my countrymen could be rather hypocritical. The scores of anti-omnic graffiti on the walls of King's Row were testament to that.

A bright chirpy voice startled me. "Dayner love, you're a fair bit early, aren't you?"

I turned. Lena Oxton, call-sign Tracer, former Overwatch agent and fellow Brit, stood before me, her seemingly permanent smile instantly brightening my day. She had been one of Overwatch's finest pilots, and her spunk and talent with an aircraft meant she had been selected to test a new prototype, a teleportation-based plane. Her story was now legendary even outside of Overwatch, and everyone knew how she mysteriously reappeared more than a decade after that horrific accident where the plane vanished.

Lena plonked herself down on a seat next to me, spiky brown hair waving in the slight breeze. The chronal accelerator on her chest whirred softly, the soft blue glow casting a gentle light onto the small table. The device kept her anchored in the present, and had been designed for her by her close friend Winston the gorilla, one of several who had been part of a genetic enhancement program conducted on the moon. The last I heard of him, he was taking care of the old facilities on Gibraltar, with no one for company except an artificial intelligence program, Athena.

A waiter came over with bread and a cup of tea. I waited for her to leave before starting to speak. "So, Lena, how has life been treating you?"

She shrugged. "I have to say, it's been fairly alright. Just touring the country giving speeches, and the occasional school visit. The children are just lovely."

I nodded. For some reason children were more welcoming of former Overwatch agents like us, while most adults still regarded us with a certain degree of suspicion, and sometimes even hostility.

Lena sipped her tea, pushing her signature orange goggles up so they wouldn't fog over. "So, what about you, old chap? Any interesting missions?"

"Don't call me old, you're only 5 years younger than me," I joked. Lena's disappearance meant that she had not aged, and was still in her early 20's.

I told her about my recent training exercise in Egypt, and of the hostage rescue mission from the bioweapons facility. She furrowed her brow when I told her about the mysterious sniper who had saved our lives.

Lena leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "You say the Egyptian Army hadn't deployed any snipers that day?"

I nodded. "None whatsoever."

"Well I reckon any sniper that good would probably be world famous. Are you sure it's not anyone we know?"

Our tea had gone cold by now, and when I considered my theory, a chill ran down my spine too. "Not know, but knew."

Lena arched her eyebrow. I pulled a file from my bag on the floor. "The Egyptian Army and the Helix Security people say there are rumours of a vigilante sniper, going around shooting up the local gangs." I pulled a picture out and showed it to Lena. It was a grainy shot of a hooded person. The picture had been taken at a long distance, but two features stood out instantly. A mask with an inverted blue triangle covered the person's face, and a long-barrelled rifle was slung over the person's back.

Lena studied the picture. "You think this could the sniper?"

I pulled another picture out. "I have my suspicions."

The petite woman picked up the other photo and gasped. She looked up at me, incredulous. "You can't be bloody serious now, can you?"

The picture that I had shown her was a shot of Ana, taken just a few weeks before that fateful mission. That picture bore many similarities to the other one. The way they stood, the way the rifle was slung over their shoulders. But that was all I had to go on.

Lena shook her head, putting the pictures down. "It can't be her. She's been dead for so long."

I pointed out that people had thought her dead when her plane had vanished too. "Besides, we never recovered the body. All they found when they went back was her rifle, with the scope shattered."

Lena leant back into the chair. "I'm not sure, Dayner."

I sipped my now cold tea. "Think about it Lena. You said yourself that any sniper that good would be world-famous. The fact that we have no information on this mysterious sniper at all is very curious, don't you think?"

Lena nodded slowly. "I can see where you're coming from, but it's kinda hard to believe."

I coughed slightly, pointing at her chronal accelerator with my eyebrow raised. Lena burst into laughter, the bright and chirpy sound echoing through the air. "I guess you do have a point there, love."

I put the photos back into the file. "I'll try and dig up some more information about our mysterious sniper. See if you find anything in any archives of any sort, and let me know if you find something."

Lena nodded. At this moment, something started beeping. Lena put down her cup of tea and pulled out a holotransceiver. I couldn't see the image very clearly, but I was able to make out the symbol of Overwatch, as well as a small picture that appeared to be Winston. Lena looked at me and asked, "Can I go take this call?"

I shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

Lena zipped off to a dark alleyway, leaving a light blue trail of light and a rattling cup of tea on the table. The sun was setting by now, but I wasn't worried about her. Lena always carried her twin pulse pistols in convenient compartments in her gauntlets. By now, a crowd was starting to build up in front of the podium where Mondatta was supposed to be preaching. I knew Lena was very excited to hear him speak, and would try and worm her way to the front. I dropped her a quick message via my own holotransceiver, and started making my way to join the crowd.

-10 minutes later—

I managed to get a pretty good spot, about two or three rows of people and omnics away from the podium. I knew Tracer would be able to worm her way to the front for sure, as even the British people idolized her. Mondatta had been speaking for close to ten minutes at this stage, and the crowd of omnic and human alike were respectfully hushed.

I noticed the security chief standing just behind and to the right of Mondatta. He touched his hand to his earpiece, and just for a split second, a flash of worry creased his brow. He started speaking quietly and hurriedly into his radio. As he spoke, his worry became increasingly evident.

My soldier instincts kicked in. I did a quick scan of the surroundings, and mentally counted the security officers. The numbers checked out. The security chief now looked towards the rooftops, scanning for something.

I cursed under my breath. If the roof teams were compromised, Mondatta would be very vulnerable to snipers. I started pushing my way through the crowd, trying to get to the nearest building.

Then, a sound stopped me in my tracks. It was faint, and I could barely hear it over Mondatta's speaking, but it was there, and my trained ears picked it up. Gunfire. And on top of that… the sound of pulse weapons discharging. Lena had gotten to the threat ahead of me.

I turned to look at the crowd again. It had closed up behind me, leaving me with no way to get to Mondatta or any of the security teams. I had only one option left.

-5 minutes later—

I burst onto the roof of the building, panting heavily. Without my mechanical exoskeleton to boost my physical stamina, I had to take a couple of seconds to catch my breath. The sound of gunfire was louder now, and getting closer.

Looking around, I saw a security officer slumped on the next rooftop. The roofs were connected by a myriad network of pipes, and I used those to get to the officer.

He was lying on the ground, unconscious, with a large red mark across his face. I knelt to check that he was still alive. He was breathing, barely. I moved him into the recovery position, and picked up his rifle.

The gun battle was getting louder and closer, and suddenly I heard the sound of Lena's chronal accelerator rewinding, reversing the flow of time around her. I quickly rushed to the nearest low wall, and propped the rifle on the top. I wasn't as good as Ana was, but I could still handle myself with a sniper rifle.

Peering through the scope, I saw the silhouette of the hostile shooter, and suddenly I recognized the oddly-shaped helmet and the long ponytail. It was the same Talon sniper who had killed Ana a few years ago.

I saw Lena reach behind her back, and I knew what was about to happen. She flung her arm out, and a small spherical device soared through the air, curving towards the Talon sniper. I thought for sure the sniper was a goner.

But then, faster than I could react, the Talon sniper swung her rifle around and shot Lena's pulse bomb out of the air.

The explosion rocked the peaceful night, the massive fireball sucking in oxygen to fuel its flames, before imploding on itself and disappearing.

By the time I had reacted, the Talon sniper had already leapt off the roof, chasing after a falling Lena, rifle to her shoulder and eye to the scope. I shifted my aim, but I knew I was too late.

The Talon sniper fired, and in the same instant I heard Lena's chronal accelerator whine again.

The Talon sniper fell out of my sight. I quickly vaulted the wall and ran towards where the Talon sniper had jumped.

Lena reappeared on the edge of the roof. I was about to run over when the Talon sniper swung up on the end of a rope. I hadn't even seen where the grapple hook had landed. I quickly scrambled behind cover and drew a bead on the sniper.

Peering through the scope, I suddenly realized something. Despite her blue skin and cold features, I recognized the sniper. Amelie Lacroix, widow of Gerard Lacroix, the agent in charge of bringing down Talon. Amelie had been kidnapped by Talon, and then mysteriously released. A few weeks later, Gerard was found dead in his bed, and Amelie was gone.

Anger boiled in my veins. I tightened my finger around the trigger, but for some reason I could not bring myself to shoot her. This was a woman who had joined the rest of Overwatch and the agents' families in our various events and holiday celebrations. I had known her when Gerard was still alive, and she had seemed a pleasant woman. Yet she had also killed her husband in cold blood. She had killed one of my dear friends with whom I had collaborated with on many missions.

I steeled myself, but before I could pull the trigger, Lena charged Amelie with a cry of anguish, tackling her to the ground. The pair tumbled across the roof, sliding to a halt at the very edge.

Suddenly, a bright light blinded me, forcing me to look away from the scope. The sound that I heard next was unmistakable. The loud whir of VTOL turbines could only mean one thing.

A Talon dropship had arrived to retrieve its agent.

Looking back towards where Lena was, I was shocked to see Amelie launch herself and Lena off the roof, and only then did I see the thin rope snap taut. I traced the rope with my eyes, and spotted the grapple hook embedded in the wall.

I heard a crash and a loud electric crackle, and Amelie swung herself up on the rope. The Talon dropship swung in low, cutting off my line of sight to Amelie. I quickly adjusted my aim and fired, but the bullet just pinged off the bulletproof glass, leaving the pilot unharmed. The VTOL turbines were deafening at this point, and I couldn't even hear myself fire again. The dropship lifted off, with me firing shots at its armoured underbelly in vain. I emptied the clip, but the Talon ship escaped without a scratch.

I discarded the rifle and ran towards the edge of the roof. Lena was on the next roof down, lying prone. Her chronal accelerator was crackling with electricity, the blue light flickering and fading.

I carefully made my way down using a combination of the uneven brickwork and the pipes on the walls. When I reached the bottom, Lena was now sitting up, trying to patch her chronal accelerator up. I helped her get up, and thankfully she seemed not to be hurt. Lena was more concerned about her chronal accelerator though, and rightly so. I draped her arm around my shoulder, and started looking for an exit. Lena kept mumbling though, and I had to ask her what had happened.

She looked up at me, her anguish clear in her eyes. "She shot Mondatta."

I paled, but kept moving. "There's nothing we can do about that now. But right now, we need to get your chronal accelerator fixed."

She nodded, and let me guide her towards the nearest fire escape.

-2 hours later—

I returned to my apartment, exhausted. It was close to midnight by now. Lena had found a small workshop and done some emergency repair work. The fix would hold for a few days, but she was going to Gibraltar on the next flight to get it properly fixed by Winston. I had to give my statement to the police, and I had also made a call to the Royal Army headquarters and Scotland Yard, so they could put out a general alert for Amelie Lacroix.

Sitting on my bed in the darkened room, it took my frazzled brain a while to register that the holotransceiver on my study desk was beeping. I moved over and saw I had one missed call and one voice message.

Pressing the button to see the caller's details, I was stunned to see the Overwatch logo and Winston's portrait pop up in front of me. The message was simply titled: "Recall".

I sat back on the chair, trying to process what I was seeing. All Overwatch activities were banned under the PETRAS act, but operation Recall was one of our contingency operations in the event that Overwatch was dissolved. If I answered to this call, I would be breaking a UN resolution, which would result in something much more serious than a court-martial. But this was more than just a call back to arms.

It was a call to go home.

 **A/N here's the next chapter everyone, i had already finished most of this, and just had to add a few finishing touches. there's not really much for me to say, but I will be taking a break from this fic for a while to focus on my other stories.**

 **as always, I greatly appreciate constructive criticism of my stories, and plot ideas are also welcome.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this story, and do stay tuned for more. alternatively, you could also check out some of my other stories.**

 **Happy reading everyone, and happy holidays.**

 **Darkrai**


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